Day 19 Whatever tickles your fancy

Time to take another look back at Tony's life. I think we left off in 1991. Vanilla Ice and Mc Hammer ruled the world, Sonic the Hedgehog was selling its millions and most the children i now teach were 9 years off being born....

Tony - The teenage years (1991 - 2000)

Tony was still doing well at school, this being junior school still. Come year 6 and Tony was still in the top of the class. Especially as Janegan had left now to go to another school. The 11+ tests came around and Tony passed, getting a score of 227 i believe. (I think you needed 195 to pass). So off to Sutton Grammar I did go.

Now unfortunately, being a smart fish in a stupid pond stops being fun when you move to a smarter pond. Which is what Sutton Grammar was. Still I was smarter than most, just stupider than most in the class. With my intelligence not seeming as great as it once had been, my role as class clown became far more pronounced. This was of course a blessing and a curse. My year 7 bullying time disappeared, as the bullies went onto the proper geeks, rather than the kinda weird/amusing geeks (that was me).Alas, I was known throughout the school by teachers as someone who'd rather prat around than work hard. And I know how much that pisses off teachers. Or at least i do now.

So fast forward to 1998, and the GCSEs were upon us. I wanted to stay on to Sutton Grammars sixth form, but hopes were a little low. After all, I'd wasted most of my school life dicking around telling jokes. But yatta! I came out with the 4 B's I needed. Off to sixth form I went - where my inablility to work hard increased.

Those who were the bottom of the smart pond had gone, leaving those of us who scraped in as the little stupid fishes sucking dirt off the pond floor. But by now I wasn't even sure what I wanted to do in life. And when you have only 2 years left to decide it ain't good. Especially when you go to the computer room to write a personal statement and then get involved in a quake tournament. Quake was new back then. And it rocked. So no UCAS form and no personal statement, Tony had no plans.

'I think I might take a year off', I said to my Mum in May, knowing that it was too late to really do anything else.
'No you won't' she replied. 'You get a job or you go to university. I'm not having you lying around for a year.' And so, with 14 days til the closing date for UCAS forms, I went to decide my future after school.

And so we're now in the year 2000. A lovely time to leave this. Next time - Tony's lazy life catches up with him as we enter the darker years.